Dr. Sachs, who proved that the history of the disease is much more fascinating than the works of any literary genre (9 photos)

The human psyche is a complex and very fragile thing. Requires delicate approach. This extraordinary person was able to open before society problems of neurology from an artistic point of view. Thereby making the attitude towards patients much more loyal and humane.





Dr. Oliver Sachs (1933-2015) - neurologist and neuropsychologist, popularizer of medicine and author of several books based on stories his patients, and he himself knew perfectly well what it was like to be different from everyone else. Oliver had prosopagnosia, a disorder of facial perception in which the ability to recognize them is lost.



Facial blindness (prosopagnosia)

That is, to recognize a person, he had to like a puzzle collect its fragments in pieces - eyes, nose, lips, ears and compare a picture with a directory stored in memory. That is another occupation, but it is not prevented the doctor from seeing his patients as individuals. Even though on the specifics of diseases.

They are different, but not worse than us



Oliver Sachs

It was Sachs who drew public attention to people, suffering from autism spectrum disorder. And proved that they are nothing no worse than others. He helped the introverted boy Stephen Wiltshere, who did not speak until school. But he painted great. And now it's unique architectural artist, distinguished by a phenomenal ability to memory to reproduce architectural landscapes, seeing them only once.



Another patient of Sachs, a professor of music, caught himself that he no longer recognizes people by sight. The doctor himself knew what it was such. But the patient's problem was exacerbated by the fact that he saw faces of inanimate objects. Imagine the surprise of passers-by watching a man try to talk to a fire hydrant. But speeches about alcohol and especially drugs did not go.



In the process of interacting with Professor Sachs, he realized that the patient describes individual objects in parts. But not all of them can identify in common. In everyday life, his wife helped him, watching, so that all things are always in their places, and the husband does not put on instead of a hat, a bucket. Sachs realized that curing an unusual patient was not condition. But he helped in another way - he found out that the professor is easier to cope with routine when he sings. That is, due to organic damage or for some other reason, the part of the brain responsible for musical perception, took over the functions originally performed by the department, responsible for the recognition of faces, objects and images.



Half. From the life of a woman completely disappeared Right side. She ate food only from the left side of the plate, applied makeup on the left side of the face. Those around her called out to her, but only finally scared. In the end, the only solution was turn objects over at the end of some action. True, with makeup, the issue remained unresolved - it was to turn it over impossible.



Another patient - the artist has forgotten how to see colors. Instead of they observed only an incomprehensible black-gray substance. And all are bright colors and shades seemed to him especially nasty and irritating. For a painter, especially an abstract artist, who is especially interested in contrasts, it's a tragedy. But the only way to continue working was reorganize to create paintings in black and white colors.






Shot from the movie "Awakening"

This is only a small part of the stories that I encountered neurologist during his career. In 1990, Penny Marshall directed the film "Awakening", dedicated to Dr. Sachs, in which the main roles were played by Robert De Niro and Robin Williams.